By the middle of the 1970s, the Statler Brothers were already a decade into one of the most impressive country chart careers of the era. After making that countdown for the first time with the major hit ‘Flowers On The Wall’ in 1965, they had racked up two dozen appearances — including four more top ten singles — when they entered the chart once again on 2 October 1976 with ‘Thank God I’ve Got You.’

Harold, Lew, Phil and Don, proud sons of Staunton, Virginia, put all of their harmonising prowess into this traditional tale of a man who’s happy in love, despite all of the proverbial woes of many a country song. In group member Don Reid’s lyric, the narrator has bills to pay, job frustrations, a car in the shop and a kid with a broken arm, but he’s rising above it all with the love of a good woman.

The song entered Billboard’s Hot Country Singles survey at No. 68, the highest of 12 new entries that also included new releases by Mel Tillis and David Frizzell and leading ladies of the day such as Margo Smith and Jeanne Pruett. It went on to make No. 10, starting a new hot streak for the quartet, as the first of three top tenners in a row from their next album.

‘Thank God I’ve Got You’ and the Statlers’ next two hits, ‘The Movies’ and ‘I Was There,’ all came from the LP The Country America Loves. When that arrived in February 1977, it too made No. 10 on the country chart. The Statler Brothers were knee-deep in top ten appearances, and on the singles countdown, they would continue for another 13 years, until ‘More Than A Name On A Wall’ became their last top tenner in 1989.